Our Mascot - Bowie

We thought Bowie would be the perfect mascot. Bowie is an emperor penguin: black tailcoat and distinctive "egg yolk" trim on his chest.

Bowie is a "young rebel", so our graphic designer, Elke, gave him a fitting blue punk hairstyle. Bowie also has such a big heart that even the yellow spots on his ear have formed in the shape of a heart. And something happened to Bowie a while ago, but the worst is over now - and that is why he still wears a small bandage.

What does an emperor penguin have to do with sick and traumatised children and youth? - A whole lot...

Being a penguin, Bowie is a bird... but he can't fly. How silly is that? And Bowie is an exceptionally good diver, but he's not a fish. He symbolises that even if you are different and the other birds or fish look down their noses at you, you can still have a good life.

Bowie and the other emperor penguins live in Antarctica - not exactly the most inviting climate conditions. Despite these inhospitable living conditions, however, they go through life standing tall.

To survive the snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic winter, colonies of emperor penguins huddle together in groups, each one constantly rotating their place. This way, the penguins that have formed the outer rim of the group for a while are let back into the middle by the others in order to warm up again. Social togetherness and cooperation, instead of selfishness on the part of the "roommates" in the warm interior of the group, ensures the survival of each bird. Maybe we can learn something from Bowie and his family for our society in the future.

And last but not least, the males are responsible for the brood care in the emperor penguin colonies. So maybe it is no coincidence that the idea for Bowspirit Kids was developed by two "guys" .

Bowie is symbolic of every Bowspirit Kid who will be our guest and who, despite or precisely because of his or her individual experience, will stand tall again after being on board with us and head into a self-determined future.